Ayatollahs’ menu evidently greatly improved

your say August 15, 2018 01:00

If the Iranian Embassy has a problem with Stephff’s cartoons, I suggest it address any complaints to this column instead of phoning him at his home.

I myself was surprised to learn from his cartoon that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei had a $95-billion business empire. If this is true, it needs to be docu?mented, verified and become more widely known. And if it is true, it represents a sad deterioration in austerity from the stern days of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Khomeini.

When I was living in Isfahan at the time of the Iranian revolution of 1979, the Iranians I knew admired Khomeini for his personal austerity. This was said to include living on a diet solely of Iranian bread and yoghurt, with maybe an onion thrown in from time to time for variety. Such asceticism contrasted sharply with the sybaritic lifestyle of the Shah, who was widely despised and who feasted on considerably more luxurious fare.

It would be interesting to hear from the Iranian Embassy on this issue. It would also be a welcome relief from the constant and tiresome campaigning by the vegans.